Make science easy – 1:

Getting kids to love science is a real task – unless a kid is born with inborn passion towards the subject, quite a lot of them turn out to dislike science. And that’s because of the way it’s taught! You cannot explain a practical subject by forcing kids to read books or read them out to them. The best way is to perform experiments and then explain the relevant concept to the kids – they will not only start loving the subject but will also comprehend and understand the idea in a much better way. So here we’ve listed a few science experiments which you can quickly perform in your class or home. They’re super simple and fun to show, and safe too! So go ahead, revisit your school days and also get the kids to love this super fun subject too!

If your kid asks you why there are so many colorful leaves during autumn and only green during monsoon, we’ve got something that will give them a valid and satisfactory answer. So go ahead with this experiment:

Materials required:

Three leaves from the same tree
A glass jar
Small bowl
Rubbing alcohol
Plastic wrap
Paper coffee filter

What you have to do:

1. Tear apart the leaves into small pieces and put them into the glass jar.
2. Pour the rubbing alcohol into the jar, ensuring all the pieces are submerged under it.
3. Mash and stir the leaves – do this until the alcohol turns greenish. Even after this keep mashing for a while as it’s essential for the experiment to work.
4. Now fill the bowl with hot water.
5. At the same time, cover the jar with the plastic wrap and place the jar in the bowl.
6. Let the jar stay in hot water for around 30-45 minutes until the alcohol turns dark green. You can swish the jar a couple of times to hasten the process, but 30 minutes is the minimum time you will have to wait.
7. Next, take the jar off the bowl and also take the plastic cover off it. Cut off a piece of the coffee filter and place it inside the jar like a litmus test. The liquid will slowly catch up with the paper, and after the alcohol evaporates, the colors are what will remain behind.

This will easily explain that the reason behind leaves changing their color is the fact that the green chlorophyll is dominant in some seasons, whereas the rest of the hidden colors become dominant in the other seasons. It’s just that they are hidden and not visible, due to the presence of excess chlorine.